For more than a year, Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago and his allies treated the so-called “phishing scandal” involving Commissioner Ariel Fernandez like Watergate with Mailchimp. Commission meetings. Public accusations. Police referrals. Threats about criminal conduct. Anonymous blog posts written with all the subtlety of a campaign consultant wearing fake glasses. The whole thing was […]
Joe Carollo may be out of office, politically radioactive and staring down a $63.5 million judgment he still hasn’t paid, but somehow — because this is Miami — he could soon walk away with a $770,000 taxpayer-funded goodbye kiss. The only good news is that it’s not the rumored $1 million payout las malas lenguas […]
Qualifying deadline is two weeks away With barely two weeks left before qualifying closes, not a single sitting Miami-Dade County Public Schools board member up for re-election has drawn a challenger. Which is either a stunning vote of confidence in the current board — or a giant blinking sign that nobody wants this job anymore. […]
Public service or personal branding? There are few things more Miami than a politician using public money to create a scholarship fund bearing his own family name and then acting shocked when people start asking questions. Welcome to this week’s Miami commission meeting. Buried deep inside Thursday’s agenda — hidden beneath enough legal boilerplate to […]
Everybody loves David Rivera. Even now. Even after the guilty verdicts for acting as an unregistered foreign agent and money laundering in the Venezuela lobbying scandal. Even after prosecutors painted the once-fiery anti-communist congressman as a secret $50 million paid advocate for the Maduro regime. Even with a sentencing date looming and a tax case […]
Mayor accused of sexual harassment by commissioner For a brief shining moment Tuesday, the Coral Gables Commission appeared ready to discuss something mundane: a reappointment to a city board. Then Mayor Vince Lago grabbed the flamethrower. And just like that, City Hall once again transformed into the most expensive live-action telenovela in Miami-Dade County — […]
Could it be because of his ties to Jeffrey Epstein? There are campaign mistakes. And then there are campaign mistakes where you accidentally remind voters that one of your listed supporters was friends with Jeffrey Epstein. Welcome to the latest installment of Miami Beach political damage control. Miami-Dade Commissioner Vicki Lopez — the former state […]
Vicki Lopez vs Joe Sanchez might be only real contest Four of the seven Miami-Dade commissioners up for re-election this year might just coast back into office if they don’t get a challenge by the qualifying deadline in about two weeks. As of Memorial Day, incumbent Commissioners Micky Steinberg, Natalie Milian Orbis, Anthony Rodriguez and […]
Miguel Gabela won’t answer questions about spending Right after he was elected as an outsider and government reformer, Miami Commissioner Miguel Angel Gabela promised voters he would expose the questionable spending habits at the Bayfront Park Management Trust under former Commissioner Joe Carollo. Instead, he seems to be copying those tactics now that he’s in […]
For four hours on a recent Wednesday, Miami-Dade commissioners sat around the dais debating the future of a mental health facility everybody claims they desperately want to open but nobody wants to fully pay for. And somewhere in the middle of all the speeches about compassion, fiscal responsibility, sustainability and “mission alignment,” an uncomfortable truth […]